National Agenda speakers offered an inside look
at political conventions during a presentation held Wednesday, Sept. 12,
in Mitchell Hall.

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4:27 p.m., Sept. 13, 2012--Colorful and highly charged conventions
remain an important part of American politics despite a number of
concerns -- among them high costs, tight security, heavily vetted and
teleprompted speeches and stage-managed sign waving -- panelists in the
opening presentation of the University of Delaware’s National Agenda 2012 speaker series said Wednesday, Sept. 14, in Mitchell Hall.

The topic of the presentation was “Inside the Political Conventions,”
and panelists included three people who attended the Republican
convention in Tampa, Fla. – senior political science major Bradley
Gunther, former Maryland governor and congressman Robert Ehrlich and his
wife Kendel Ehrlich, a UD alumna – and three who attended the
Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C. – UD faculty members Lindsay
Hoffman, David Wilson and Tracey Holden, who are affiliated with UD’s Center for Political Communication.

Panelists agreed that the atmosphere on the floor of the conventions
was often electric despite the fact that what was happening was
thoroughly scripted and choreographed political theatre.

Robert Ehrlich, who first won elected office as a member of the
Maryland House of Delegates in 1986, said he has seen substantial
changes in political conventions through the years.

In years past, Ehrlich said, conventions featured backroom bartering
and a fair amount of wheeling and dealing among the candidates. Today
the deals are “relatively minor” and he does not anticipate that will
change any time soon.

“It’s a show,” he said. “It is an excuse to have a party and an opportunity for one big, giant infomercial.”

Kendel Erhlich said that while the conventions are a show, they also
serve “a real purpose” in providing parties and nominees a forum to
present their message. She questioned whether future conventions might
be compressed into shorter time spans.

“This is one chance every four years when both parties are put on
stage to tell us what they stand for,” Hoffman, an assistant professor
of communication, said, adding that there are “stark differences” in the
messages of Republican nominee Mitt Romney and Democratic President
Barack Obama.

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Ralph Begleiter, director of the Center for
Political Communication and National Agenda moderator, discusses
political convention credentials with Kendel Ehrlich.

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Political energy

Despite the staging and orchestration of the conventions, Holden,
also an assistant professor of communication, said there “was still an
amazing energy.” And Wilson, an associate professor of political science
and international relations, said he was impressed with how easy it was
to generate enthusiasm among the delegates.

Gunther, attending his first national convention, said the experience
was exhilarating as he got to speak with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett,
meet delegates from all over the country and watch correspondents for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart at work, noting that the latter were much more serious in person than on television.

Gunther likened the climate among the delegates to sitting in the
upper reaches of Lincoln Financial Field for a Philadelphia Eagles game,
saying that delegates from Texas came in costume every day of the
event. Delegates are “like the diehard fans of any professional sports
team,” he said.

Holden, who spent time with members of the Delaware delegation, found
that the delegates knew that they were not just “props” to hold signs
at the convention but that they “felt very much that they play an
important role in what happens every day for their party, for their
state, for the election at large. We forget that these are people who
genuinely care.”

Media

From television suites in the main halls to social media row to
bloggers scattered through the buildings, “everything at the convention
is about the media,” Kendel Ehrlich said. “So much of politics is
intertwined with that.”

Media provides a venue to get the message out and to frame impressions, she said.

An unscripted moment

While nearly every moment at the conventions was scripted, at least
one raised by a member of the audience during a question and answer
session was not – the speech at the Republican convention by actor Clint
Eastwood as he talked to an empty chair.

“You don’t want to upset Dirty Harry,” Robert Ehrlich said, and
Gunther said he saw it as more of a performance than a speech and that
it had the desired effect of revving up the crowd.

Wilson said he believed the episode was clearly a mistake and that
the Republicans invited additional unwanted media scrutiny by not simply
owning up to the mistake and moving on.

As to some of the better speeches and more moving moments, panelists
pointed to Michelle Obama, Ann Romney, Condoleezza Rice, Marco Rubio and
Bill Clinton.

Hoffman said she was touched by the recitation of the Pledge of
Allegiance by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, still recovering
following a 2011 shooting in her home state of Arizona.

Holden, who teaches public speaking, said she was impressed by Miami
Dade College student Angie Flores, who introduced Jill Biden, a UD
alumna and wife of Vice President Joe Biden, himself a UD alumnus, at
the Democratic convention. Although Flores might have had assistance
with the text, Holden said “the style, the delivery, the poise were all
hers.”

Sept. 19 presentation

The series will continue at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 19, with a
presentation by political journalist Amy Walter on “The Media and the
Campaign.” Walter is the political director for ABC News and former
editor-in-chief of National Journal’s The Hotline.

National Agenda is sponsored by UD’s Center for Political Communication. This fall’s theme is “Road to the Presidency.”

Sessions are moderated by Ralph Begleiter, center director.

Article by Neil Thomas

Photos by Duane Perry

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Colorful and highly charged conventions remain an important part of American politics despite a number of concerns -- among them high costs, tight security, heavily vetted and teleprompted speeches.

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​Colorful and highly charged conventions remain an important part of
American politics despite a number of concerns -- among them high costs,
tight security, heavily vetted and teleprompted speeches and
stage-managed sign waving -- panelists in the opening presentation of
the University of Delaware’s National Agenda 2012 speaker series said Wednesday, Sept. 14, in Mitchell Hall.